1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the harvesting of vegetable crops and more particularly to the harvesting of the heads or flowers of plants of the brassica family, broccoli for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The harvesting of heads of plants within the brassica family presents particular problems because the head tends to be enclosed within a body of dense foliage. Prior attempts to design mechanical harvesters for these crops, particularly broccoli, have not been successful due to the difficulty of separating the heads from the significant amounts of foliage which arise when the stem of the plant is severed close to the ground. The difficulties are such that broccoli still tends to be harvested manually and this has proven still to be more effective than mechanical methods involving the processing of the substantial amounts of unwanted foliage.